#FertilityBenefit coming to active-duty personnel Oct. 1

Embryologist Rick Slifkin displays some of the frozen sperm stored at Reproductive Medicine Associates of New York in October 2013. A Defense Department pilot program will cover oocyte- and sperm-freezing services for active-duty personnel starting Oct. 1. (Photo: Richard Drew/AP) 2630 CONNECT TWEET 3 LINKEDIN 1 COMMENT EMAIL MORE Active-duty military personnel will be able to freeze their eggs or sperm under a fertility pilot program beginning Oct. 1, a senior defense official said earlier this month. Brad Carson, an adviser to the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, said in a press release that Tricare will cover the services as part of under the Pentagon’s Force of the Future initiative. Gamete freezing is one of several family-planning benefits included in the initiative, an effort to realign military benefits to attract and retain troops. Force of t...